Dimensions of Religious Tourism in Surabaya: A Netnographic Analysis of Online Tourist Reviews of Mosques and Pilgrimage Sites
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Abstract
Rapid growth in Muslim-friendly tourism establishes Surabaya as a key urban religious tourism hub featuring diverse monumental mosques and saint pilgrimage sites. This study investigates tourist experiences and digital perceptions across four iconic religious destinations in Surabaya: Al-Akbar National Mosque, Muhammad Cheng Ho Mosque, Sunan Ampel Complex, and Sunan Bungkul Tomb. The primary novelty of this research resides in applying a pure netnographic method with a comparative multi-case design to Google Maps user reviews across varied religious site typologies—encompassing modern mosques, acculturated Sino-Islamic mosques, and classical tomb pilgrimage sites. This addresses an academic gap in literature previously dominated by Sharia hospitality and social media promotional evaluations. Analyzing 7,321 Google Maps reviews via computational netnography, findings reveal high visitor satisfaction, with 4–5 star ratings accounting for 95.36%, positive sentiment at 58.51%, and happiness emotion at 85.0%. Tourist evaluations are structured across five dimensions: spirituality, historical identity, physical aesthetics, accessibility/facilities, and socio-economic activities. Key operational bottlenecks include ablution/toilet sanitation, parking capacity, and aggressive begging. The study concludes with the necessity of Maqasid al-Shariah-based destination governance (hifdh ad-din, hifdh an-nafs, hifdh al-mal) through worship facility hygiene upgrades, informal vendor organization, and historical narrative digitization to sustain Surabaya's digital Muslim-friendly tourism reputation.
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